LAKELAND, Fla. – A disgruntled Florida restaurant worker has been sentenced to seven years in prison for putting deadly plumber’s lye into the Yum Yum sauce.
The owner of a Hibachi Express franchise checked surveillance video after feeling his mouth burn when he tasted the sauce during a routine inspection.
Lakeland police say the video showed 54-year-old Margarito Padilla accessing a container of poisonous drain cleaner and then going to where the Yum Yum sauce was kept.
The Ledger reported Feb. 7 that Padilla was arrested last June and eventually acknowledged tainting the sauce because he was unhappy about working conditions.
He pleaded no contest to introducing a chemical into a food or drink, as part of a deal with prosecutors.
